It is unclear just which atmospheric phenomenon will get the blame for this unprecedented surge in poverty, which comes at a time when the pre-election economic data euphoria was adamant that the US economy was on an escape velocity to utopia. Instead what we do know is that in August and September, over three times as many foodstamp recipients were add to the economy as jobs (324,000). We also know that with the imminent impact of Sandy, which will send foodstamp recipients soaring, it is now looking quite possible that the US may end 2012 with just over a mindboggling 50 million Americans living in absolute poverty and collecting the $134.29 average monthly benefit per person, instead of working. Welcome to the recovery indeed.

Last weekend I was standing in line at Target admiring a delightfully attractive twenty-something young lady in line in front of me.

She was quite stylish in designer jeans, tall, high heeled boots, a leather waist coat and a very nice scarf. Her hair was cut, styled and well maintained as were her professionally manicured nails. I was admiring the rings on 80 percent of her fingers when I saw her pull out her EBT card to pay for the meat products on the conveyor.

She held a brief conversation with the clerk regarding the way in which the card was scanned, evidently without shame or concern. She purchased her pot roast and pork chops with the tax dollars of the clerk and those around her and sashayed from the store; the image of upper middle class elegance.

The nature of government is such that programs are al- most always implemented in a way to bene- fit those with a vested interest in them rath er than to actually achieve the programs’ stated goals. As economists Dwight Lee and Richard McKenzie among others point out, the political power necessary to transfer in- come to the poor is power that can be used to transfer income to the nonpoor, and the nonpoor are usually better organized po- litically and more capable of using political power to achieve their purposes.30 Among the nonpoor with a vital interest in anti- poverty programs are social workers and government employees who administer the programs and business people, such as land- lords and physicians, who are paid to pro- vide services to the poor. Thus, anti-poverty programs are usually more concerned with protecting the prerogatives of the bureau- cracy than with actually fighting poverty.

I had basically the same thing happen today at Fareway, She used her EBT to pay for $10 worth of food and spent $52.25 for a carton of Pall Malls. It really pisses me off when these people buy better quality of fruits,veggies,and meat than I can afford. Ben&Jerry’s is covered by the EBT cards,so is prime rib.

We are running a “toys for tots” promotion at the grocery store I work at. Customers can donate either $1 or $5 to the charity, and I ask every customer I ring up, and inform them that I can add the donation onto the total of their grocery purchase. Yesterday, I politely asked a younger gentleman if he would like to donate and he said yes and pulled out a card to pay with, and handed me a 5 dollar bill to donate to the charity. I told him he could donate with his card. He smiled at me a kindly informed me that he will be paying for his groceries with his EBT card…

Update on the current welfare state in America:
Our poor can now afford to donate to charities.